Chapter 236: Phantom
See that? Men know there’s a bit of danger and they’re afraid to go to their deaths!
While women, knowing full well that giving birth is passing through the gates of hell, go to their deaths time and again. Did they get their love for it?
They’re probably getting more and more disgusted…
They hadn’t sent that man away for long before they saw an acquaintance again.
Li Daniu?
Li Daniu weaved through the bustling human market. It was also his first time here.
He hadn’t heard anything at the place renting laborers just now, so seeing how curious things looked here, he came in for a look!
Seeing those laborers being bid on and sold, beaten and cursed by the real estate agent, he swallowed his saliva. “Mother is still the best!”
Li Daniu looked up and saw Li Sanmao and Luo Zhi’er across the way. Thinking of how Li Sanmao had smashed his family’s chicken cart last time with one punch, he got scared and bolted.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone. Luo Zhi’er coldly watched his retreating figure, feeling a bit nauseous.
“Wife, good thing that scum Li Daniu runs fast, or else I’d beat him black and blue.”
Li Sanmao said through gritted teeth.
“Forget it!”
He, Li Daniu, wasn’t worth her wasting her energy on. She just felt extremely nauseous.
Meanwhile, Li Daniu hadn’t heard any reliable news and was afraid of running into Li Sanmao and the others on the road, so he hurried back to the village.
After all, he was on foot, no match for the mule cart.
Meanwhile, Li Daniu went home and told Li Shi that he hadn’t heard any news.
Li Shi saw him return drenched in sweat, scared and shrinking into a ball like a thief. She cursed him angrily. “What use is raising a useless thing like you? Look at you, you can’t even find out about something this simple!”
What kind of posture was this? Li Daniu recalled in his mind. Wasn’t this exactly the behavior of the real estate agent at the human market beating and cursing livestock?
This dumb ox had been panicking all day today. She had told him to come back early, but not this early. She didn’t know if he was being lazy and slippery, just wandering the streets before coming back.
He was so focused on rushing back that his heart must have been hooked away by that vixen.
“Mom, I just saw Li Sanmao and his wife in town. I was scared, so I ran back!”
“What? Them? What were they doing there?”
“I don’t know! I saw he was going to hit me, so I turned and ran.”
So that’s how it was. “Daniu, Mom wronged you!”
“Hehe, it’s fine, Mom!”
A puzzled look appeared in Li Shi’s eyes. “Could it be that they’re the ones hiring people for land reclamation?”
How could that be?
Li Shi shook her head, but thinking of that fat woman’s tactics, she felt a bit suspicious.
She could make egg tarts, set traps to harm her, and know those people. She must be doing who knows what livelihood behind the village’s back.
Luo Zhi’er and the others bought some things needed at home in the city and set off back to the village.
On the way back, Li Sanmao looked at Luo Zhi’er beside him and said, “Wife, when that man quit earlier, you glanced at me. For some reason, husband felt uneasy in his heart. What did that mean exactly?”
He thought and thought, but still had to ask. That glance made him feel scared and cold-blooded.
“Husband, are you afraid of death?”
Luo Zhi’er said expressionlessly and faintly.
“Mm, when I was young and first went hunting, I was very afraid. Later I gradually got numb to it, but after having you and Miaomiao, I became afraid again.”
“Why?”
“Afraid that if I died, how would you mother and daughter live?”
Luo Zhi’er sneered. “Husband, if I said that if you died, Miaomiao and I would live very well, would you believe it?”
Li Sanmao’s expectant heart plunged into an ice cellar. He smiled bitterly. “Of course I believe that.” He feared that without him, she would only be even freer, doing whatever she wanted.
No, he couldn’t let her leave him.
Li Sanmao grabbed Luo Zhi’er’s chubby hand and squeezed it hard.
See, men are just this contradictory.
“Wife, will you ever despise husband?”
“Who knows? Days are still long, and we’re still young. Maybe by then we’ll despise each other…”
“No matter what, we’ll talk about the future later. Anyway, I won’t!”
……
Back home, Luo Zhi’er and Li Sanmao each did their jobs. Li Sanmao went hunting, Luo Zhi’er smoked dried tofu. They busied around for over ten days and earned five or six taels of silver. During this time, a few pieces of good news came.
That matter of Ye Beiyao partnering with her on the lipstick shop had been progressing since it was settled, so she hadn’t seen him several times.
Under his careful operation, the shop had already been renovated, workers were in place, and once the notice for acquiring petals was posted, the people from nearby villages who went to market in town exploded like a pot coming to a boil!
Picking petals was such easy work. Villages inside and outside Zhao Li Village immediately learned of it. Women and old women went to the wilds to gather petals when they had nothing to do. You could see them carrying flower baskets up the mountain.
She had originally named the shop “Chanduo.” “Chan” implying women’s beautiful figures, “Duo” implying beautiful like flowers.
Unfortunately, this Ye Beiyao deeply detested the character “Chan,” probably because of that Marquis’s Mansion madam Du Zhichan.
Fine, after discussion, they settled on “Phantom.” She thought it sounded mysterious. Ye Beiyao secretly sized her up. If customers knew the boss behind the scenes was a fat shadow, what would they think?
Earlier when Luo Zhi’er went to deliver smoked dried tofu, she was stopped by Song Wu beside Ye Beiyao and taken to tour the shop. The shop was on Xi Shui Street. Because there was a workshop behind it, Song Wu had checked houses on the main street and none were big enough.
Xi Shui Street had an elegant environment with new houses. The yards behind the shops there were square and proper, suitable for a workshop. The shop interior was renovated very well and luxuriously.
This man was generous. The display cabinets were made as she had casually mentioned before. Lipstick shades were numbered by color, with a sample trial area and goods area. Colors were naturally made based on raw material colors, the production process the same as what she had done before. There would be more shades in the future. For those currently needing adjustment, she had specially gone to the workshop behind to guide the lipstick women in operation.
Making lipstick tubes was done by skilled craftsmen following her template. Once done, other assemblers filled them with lipstick…
Steps separated, each to their duties, not easy to leak, and efficient. Once done, they could go on sale.
Opening day was set for the eve of the Flower God Festival. If the opening went well, great. If not, then on the Flower God Festival, use the courtesan to make Phantom famous worldwide.
The second happy matter was that Ye Beiyao transferred her one-third of Yumian Tower’s July revenue.
She had silver now, a total of three thousand three hundred thirty-two taels. Luo Zhi’er clicked her tongue repeatedly, eyes going wide.
Not just her?
Ye Beiyao was the real one. Who would have thought that just three months ago, their restaurant was barely breaking even, holding on desperately for his mother’s relic? Now it was making a fortune.
Nearly ten thousand taels pure income per month, overall revenue around thirty thousand taels. August was even more. And this was just one restaurant. If they got operating rights nationwide, then what?
Luo Zhi’er felt a bit guilty. She hadn’t paid much of a price and was taking so much silver for free. For a moment, she felt a bit embarrassed.
One-third—was she taking advantage of the fire, opening her mouth like a lion, taking too much?
“Heh! You still know to be embarrassed?” Ye Beiyao narrowed his eyes as if joking.
“How about Master Ye takes some back?”
“This heir won’t stoop to being someone who doesn’t keep his word!” Since that was the case, she would take it as her due. Hahaha.
